Hand held UHF

[MEGOMONSTER]

I am looking at getting a pair of hand held UHF radios and I was looking at the GME TX6100. Any thoughts or what do you use.


Publicly speaking to a private audience.

[megatexture]

Ive got gme 6200 and two gme 670s and all are great units the 6200 and 6100 units are much the same if i rember corectly ,
Also if you get a 6200 or 6100 you can get a trickle charge adaptor that trickle charges the unit through the antenna mount location and it also allows you to use a full size antenna mounted on your bullbar or where ever you choose so it essencialy becomes a 2nd 5watt uhf and can be removed in a matter of seconds to be used as a handheld .
This setup wont get you a full days talking in a convoy but can easily last a good 5-6hrs from memory as the trickle charge takes around 8hrs to fully charge a flat batt , i also have corded mic's for all units makes it alot easier scrambeling around in the s&?t with 2hands free

[2TROLLFAM]

Brad bought a pair of Uniden hand helds a few months ago - they work well for a day trip to the beach & we also took them to Neurum Creek. Not sure of model tho

[threedogs]

Get a name brand of 5 watts, it'll have all the hands free STD.
if you dont you'll be on other thread, I brought cheap handheld and ????????. right

[boots]

Hey Mego . I use them in my job and and have both gme tx6200 and icom ic-41s . icom signal strength and sound quality and battery life much better IMO .

[MEGOMONSTER]

Hey Mego . I use them in my job and and have both gme tx6200 and icom ic-41s . icom signal strength and sound quality and battery life much better IMO .

Thanks, I will look into it.
Edit: bloody expensive.


Publicly speaking to a private audience.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Just bought the GME TX6100 hand held and speaker/mic.
22447


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Do I need the new 80 channel version or is the forty still ok. Cos looking at the new ones in the shop they all say 80channel. But the one I got said 40 channel that's probably why it was 100 bucks cheaper.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[Stropp]

Don't need 80 Chanel unless the convoy or your mates are on Chanel 41 or above.

[megatexture]

going to look at hardwiring it or just keeping it full handheld ?

40 is plenty, ive got 80 and never use above 40 unless on scan as not all of my mates have 80ch so we stick with what all can use naturaly.

[hancock]

i'm a gme man my self to put my two cents worth in about weather or not you need the new 80ch set's the older 40ch sets are wideband the new 80ch set's are narrow band they are planning to phase out the wide band set's over the next five years but i'll belive it when i see it, some 40ch units can be upgraded some only need to be reprogrammed to narrowband and have the other channels put in but that only my two cent

[MEGOMONSTER]

going to look at hardwiring it or just keeping it full handheld ?


So at least I'll be right with the 40.
I'm gonna try to get an aerial put in before Qld trip but I'm not hopeful.
What is realistic range of these units normal terrain.
And with an aerial range will lengthen substantially. Any suggestions to what aerial. Is it the thicker the better.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[MEGOMONSTER]

The spastic couriers sent my parcel back to sender, so who knows if I'll get it before Friday.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[Winnie]

I got a pair of Oricom handhelds with my winch and they are great.

[threedogs]

Antenna the bigger the Db the better UHF are line of sight outback NSW roads with a nice thick 6Db antenna would see you right for touring.
In high country areas the shorter 600mm antenna would work better as they will bounce [skip] signal better than a 1800mm job, and good chance you won't break it either. I've a brand new 80 channel sitting in shed, was on my camper as a homebase radio, but plenty of handhelds for that

[Ronin]

I bought a Baufang UV-5R UHF/VHF radio for $50, and its awesome for the price.

[threedogs]

Saw those and a mate was telling me of some 30 watt jobs you can get at a great price, might have to get more info off him 30 watts would work well

[megatexture]

I've seen up to 50 watt but why would you want every one hearing your conversation lol

[threedogs]

Was thinking more of a distance thing. you saw 50 watts wow,, Everyone can hear you on VHF whats to hide there is protocol to follow

[MEGOMONSTER]

Still haven't delivered my GME TX6100


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[megatexture]

119$ +postage for a 50watt was good I thought but I don't want to annoy every one.

[Ronin]

Saw those and a mate was telling me of some 30 watt jobs you can get at a great price, might have to get more info off him 30 watts would work well

thats probably the Icom IC-400 Pro.

[P4trol]

Seen on another forum, people are buying wouxun brand radios via eBay.

Chinese made, and you need a small amount of knowhow to initially put in the uhf cb frequencies.

But at $200 for a pair of 5w handheld, good value for money.

[Ronin]

these ones are $60 each shipped http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2013-New-BaoFeng-UV-5R-Plus-Dual-Band-136-174-400-480-MHz-Ham-FM-Two-way-Radio-/261094862898?pt=AU_Electronics_Radio_Equipment&hash=item3cca777032

[megatexture]

Looks like you will have set the frequency every time you want to change channels ? Unless I missed something lol

[Ronin]

Looks like you will have set the frequency every time you want to change channels ? Unless I missed something lol

sorry should have been more clear.. u just assign channel names to frequencies u wanna Tx/Rx. I set mine up with the usual 80 channels of UHF CB. Then you just change channels as usual. The particular model I got allows me to listen to two channels simultaniously.

This is the exact model i got .. with bigger battery and programming cable.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BAOFENG-Dual-band-model-UV-5R-II-VHF-UHF-Dual-Band-Radio-NEW-VERSION-USB-cable-/261131590629?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item3ccca7dbe5

[P4trol]

Nice find!

[MEGOMONSTER]

Yeeeeeeey my handheld finally came, all good now.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[P4trol]

Looks like you will have set the frequency every time you want to change channels ? Unless I missed something lol

I'll tell you for sure soon.

At worst every channel will have to be programmed in, then it's just selecting a memory channel.

[Agronaught]

You can download the software to program them, just remember to order a programming cable as programming via the front panel is painful.

I will mention, these radios are not covered by the CB class licence. This could cause you some problems down the track so buyer beware.

I have a couple of the wouxons for use on the amateur 2m and 70cm bands which is legal if you have an appropriate licence.

[Agronaught]

Typo.. 70cm not 80cm bands.

[Agronaught]

Just ordered one to see what they are like.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Just ordered one to see what they are like.

Ordered which one


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[Agronaught]

BaoFeng UV-5R Plus, $60 delivered.

I have the wouxon and its a good radio for the money. Nowhere near as resiliant as my yaesu handhelds, but a fraction of the cost of those.

The uv-5t is useable on two amateur bands and technically covers the uhf cb frequencies. If its like the wouxong the standard antenna will be little more than a dummy load.

[MEGOMONSTER]

When you get it and use it, tell us about it and what you think.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[Ronin]

for the BaoFeng UV-5R, below is the steps on getting it programmed for aus UHF CB, this is provided u ordered the programming cable with it.


1.Download and Install the USB driver from http://pic.radioshop888.com/abc/software/Vista&win7_64_Installer.exe (this is for windows7 64bit)

2. Install the software that came with the radio or use Chirp

3. plug in the USB programming cable into the radio and plug the usb into the computer, note down the com port that shows up.

4. Launch the BF5R software, it launches in chinese language, In the menu bar on top, click on 2nd option from left, select English.

5. Click on Communciation, select the Com port no. that you noted in the steps above.

6. go to the yahoo UV-5r group's file section, download the file "AUS_80CH_UHF_CB.dat" , I also have it incase u cant get to the group membership.

7. Click on File , Open and navigate to the location where the AUS_80CH_UHF_CB.dat file is located.

8. Click Program on Menu and click on Write to Radio.

9. Wait for the write to finish

10. Done.

[Agronaught]

Received the radio today

23306

Feels nice in the hand, good weight and fairly solid. Tested it on some local amateur repeaters and the audio quality is good, Not as crisp as my yaesu but thats comparing a $500 handheld to a $50 jobby.

Will post more when i put it through its paces, so far im very impressed for the price.

[Agronaught]

Ok - the good news...

For a cheap hand held the radio performs will in both simplex and duplex operation, and includes most of the features you would want. There is a single memory bank of 128 channels which may or may not be suitable, personally I ran out and would have to reprogram depending on where I'm going but even that's easy enough with a decent programming cable and the right drivers. Audio quality is reasonable.

In testing the frequency was off, albeit minor but something to be aware of. This could just be the radio I have, hard to tell.

*NOTE* All testing performed into a dummy load.


Band:

2m Amateur - 145.525MHz (radio) -- Actual 145.530 (5KHz frequency drift) -- 6.7 Watts output.
70cm Amateur - 433.775MHz (radio) -- Actual 433.777 (2KHz frequency drift) -- 3.8 Watts output.
80cm (UHF) -- 476.650 (radio) -- Actual 476.653 (3KHz frequency drift) -- 3.9 Watts output.

So the radio has a minor but consistent frequency drift that will need to be compensated for in normal use. I have no means of identifying if this is just this handset of across all of the radio's, and as my measuring equipment has recently been calibrated it's unlikely to be a measurement error. Compare this to one of my Yaesu handhelds and frequency drift is only really notable near the operating temperatures of the device.

The stock antenna is a wast of time (IMHO) and should be replaced ASAP to increase the range and coverage of the radio.

So.. you get what you pay for, a lot of radio for $50 but not a sterling performer for that money either.

The bad news... They are highly illegal in Australia, even for licensed amateurs. As such owning and using one on any bands could land you in hot water, at best a confiscation and a warning, at worst a hefty fine and/or jail time. I have also heard customs are known to confiscate the radio's in transit it they find them as they can not be locked down to meet australian standards.

The following is an excerpt from the ACMA (australian communications and media authority).



One of these Chinese radios you are referring to would appear to be the following,

http://www.radioshop888.com/radioshop_product.php?id=103959&gclid=CKDg8t_YorICFVBapgod6RoAkQ

The short answer is that unless these transceivers are somehow permanently modified so that it is impossible for the end user to operate these devices outside the amateur bands then they cannot be legally used in Australia.

This is because this transceiver, as manufactured, is easily programmable by the end user to operate on any frequency within the following VHF and/or UHF bands,

1. 136-174MHz,
2. 420-520MHz

Because of this, these transceivers would definitely not meet the requirements of the applicable Australian mandated radiocommunications standards for operation outside the amateur bands - there are no Australian mandated radiocommunications standards applicable to devices operating exclusively in the Australian amateur bands.

Omitted... I can include the relevant standards if people are interested.



Note I'm not here to argue the validity of the above - contact the ACMA if you want further clarification.

In summary... for UHF CB go and buy a cheap uniden, GME (aussie company) or similar and save yourself some grief. I'll be shelving the unit I have, and may use it for a one-way balloon mission or similar one day.

[MEGOMONSTER]

I guess that was an unfortunate waste of money.

[Agronaught]

Sorry. I only received the acma information a short while ago.

Cheers

[the evil twin]

Many of the cheep cheep chinee radios are fine to purchase and there are any amount being imported and retailed quite legally in Australia BUT there are also sets with the exact same model designation that are not legal...

The excerpt from ACMA above appears to be specifically directed at the frequency range of one radio specified in the reply and does not apply across all models. So, if you are buying on Ebay (esp from Overseas) check that they are the "Australian" compliance model and, for example, capped at 480 Mhz have CE etc etc. The various manuf have different firmware locking the freq's for the various markets around the world but don't bother to change the model designators.

Anyway, as Agronaught says not worth arguing over, just be aware that the differences between legal and illegal in the radios on the market can be very subtle indeed and any Q's should be directed straight to ACMA as was done above.

[P4trol]

Ok, a few words from the ground re the wouxun UDV1P. All ACMA 'It's legal/it's illegal conversations and electrical conformation aside.

Practical usage:

At UHFCB frequencies it outputs close to 4 watts. More than the cheap brands, and but less than the 5W

Tx/Rx they sound very clear. Battery life will last a long days drive. Cheap enough not to cry if one was dropped in the mud or fell off the roof.

Physically they feel the same as more expensive brands, but I did notice one battery clip didn't quite fit properly.

Charging isn't super fast, and 12v is slower still. If you were using the radio in a vehicle, I would buy a second battery. The charger cradle allows just the battery to be charged.


Programming is a pain. Half the settings have no effect when changed via pc. The UHFCB band is getting a few too many channels to me programming easy with their software.

I'd buy another.

[russ81]

Saw those and a mate was telling me of some 30 watt jobs you can get at a great price, might have to get more info off him 30 watts would work well

Just for a heads up, it is illegal in Australia to operate a UHF radio with an output greater than 5 watts. I will post the relevant docs shortly for anyone that may be interested.


Sent while temporally motionless

[russ81]

User equipment designs are similar to commercial land mobile two-way radio. Except for repeater stations and stations using the data-only channel, the maximum legal output power is 5 Watts. External antennas are permitted and common commercially manufactured antennas have gain as high as 12dB. Handheld transceivers (walkie talkies) are permitted and have transmit power from 500 mW to 5W (full legal power) and are relatively cheap compared to full-sized transceivers.

Other similar personal radio services used in other countries do not share the same band plan, power output, channels etc. as UHF CB. It is usually illegal to use these systems in Australia and New Zealand because they will interfere with other licensed services. Care must be taken with radios imported from overseas to ensure they comply with local regulations.


Sent while temporally motionless

[Lowedoggy18]

you gotta stick with gme, THERE AUSSIE MADE.and there the best!

[P4trol]

And '00s of dollars!

[MEGOMONSTER]

Just bought the GME TX6100 hand held and speaker/mic.
22447


Finally had a chance to use this unit on my holiday and was pleased with the device. Loud enough, clear enough even at a hundred JD and window open.
Edit: Km not JD

[P4trol]

JD as in jack Daniels?

[MEGOMONSTER]

no that's JD as in kilometres

[healy]

Mego with the new measurement so how far is one JD? Lol

[MEGOMONSTER]

One JD can be drunk anywhere between one to five kilometres, therefore one JD =1-5km

[MEGOMONSTER]

Sold my TX6100 and purchased the new GME TX6150 with a longer lasting battery and fully waterproof.